I often drove by an old building on the outskirts of Pine Plains and wondered about what it used to be.  As it was beside a small pond, I assumed it was an abandoned water mill.   But when I saw some activity going on around it (actually underneath it) my curiosity got me to pull over.

I wondered about the rest of the building — was any of the mill equipment still intact? What was its history?  Its name?

Patchin’s Mill was what everyone called it, but those in the “know” call it Patchin Mills because at one point there were actually two mills there. So take your pick but be warned that whichever one you choose could make you vulnerable to being corrected.

As is the way of things in a small town, it did not take much to wrangle an invitation to take a tour of the interior. 

I brought Bruce Humphries over to go through it with Susan Patchin Drury so I could videotape the tour for the sake of some history.  He was the only person I knew who would be familiar enough with the milling equipment and the turbine.  This was the first time Bruce had been in the building!